Covid-19: PM convenes Cobra committee as UK coronavirus cases hit 36
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to chair a meeting of the government’s emergency Cobra committee today after the number of UK Covid-19 (coronavirus) cases hit 36.
The leap in cases came as doctors diagnosed 13 new coronavirus patients yesterday, including the first patient in Scotland. Northern Ireland and Wales reported their first cases last week.
The PM will tell the Cobra committee that the government will “stop at nothing” to tackle the growing number of British coronavirus cases. But senior ministers will also hear the Covid-19 virus represents a “significant challenge” for the government.
Cobra ministers will seek to finalise and sign off the official government plan to respond to the coronavirus threat at today’s meeting.
Health secretary Matt Hancock has said the plan could see cities enter lockdown and UK schools close to prevent the Covid-19 outbreak spreading further. And people could be discouraged from using public transport, as well as cancelled operations to help the NHS cope with a climb in cases.
Yesterday Johnson warned the number of UK coronavirus cases could climb higher.
“We’ve found about 35 people in this country have, or have had, the illness and clearly there may be more,” he said. “That is likely now to spread a bit more.
“I am very confident that this country has the capacity to deal with it.”
Yesterday’s 13 new cases were largely linked to recent spikes in Italy and Iran. Six had travelled from Italy to the UK and two returned from Iran. Three others were close contacts of the Brit who became the first known case in the UK.
However, the number also contained one patient from Essex who had not travelled recently.
“It is not yet clear whether they contracted it directly or indirectly from an individual who had recently returned from abroad; investigations are ongoing,” the UK’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, said.
The Essex patient is the second person in the UK to test positive for the coronavirus despite having not travelled recently.
That raised concerns the coronavirus could be circulating undetected in Britain.